Over the last 10 years, the Publicly Funded Family and Child Serving Systems in Lucas County have had ongoing discussions about developing Wraparound as a process for serving inter-system involved children/youth and their families in Lucas County. This discussion has also dovetailed with discussions about developing a well coordinated “System of Care.” In May 2009, Neil Brown, a Wraparound Consultant associated with the National Wraparound Initiative was brought to Lucas County to do a presentation on Wraparound for public system leaders, staff and other stakeholders. Neil Brown gave an overview on Wraparound in terms of “What is it?” “How is it done?” and “How could we do it?” Additionally, we had presentations from Stark County and Butler County that gave us a practical look at how it has been implemented in two different counties. In May 2009, the Ohio Departments of Mental Health, Youth Services and ODADAS jointly issued a Request for Proposals called the Behavioral Health and Juvenile Justice Grant (BHJJ). The focus of this grant is specifically to reduce commitments of children and youth to the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Mental Health and Recovery Services of Lucas County (MHRSB), Lucas County Juvenile Court (LCJC), NAMI of Greater Toledo, and the Lucas County Family and Children First Council (LCFCFC) worked together to develop and submit a proposal, with MHRSB serving as the lead applicant agency and fiscal agent. We saw this grant as a tremendous opportunity to accomplish two objectives:

1. Develop Multisystemic Therapy for children/youth with identified and diagnosed mental health challenges and involvement with juvenile court. This is very intensive in-home therapeutic services that address the whole family situation.

2. Develop Wraparound on a smaller scale – addressing the BHJJ population – with the long-term goal of expanding Wraparound as our coordination model for intersystem involved children/youth and their families (with the goal of replacing the traditional Cluster model by July 1, 2010). The implementation of Wraparound has already begun for the BHJJ population with trained Wraparound Facilitators working out of NAMI of Greater Toledo and we are diligently working to plan and prepare for the transition from the traditional Cluster Model (currently called Creative Options) to Wraparound.

While there are still many details that will need to be addressed over the next five months, it is our intent, to transition to Wraparound as the coordination process for multi-system involved children/youth and their families. We are planning to have four full-time Wraparound Facilitators, hired, trained and ready to receive referrals by July 1, 2010. Currently we have 2.5 FTE Wraparound Facilitators in place working with the BHJJ population. The Cluster process, as it currently exists, will no longer continue after the full transition.

This is one of three core functions that the Cluster has served over the years. The other two core functions are Coordination and Special Assistance Funding. We recognize the importance of all three functions and are diligently working on ensuring that there is an identified process and structure to support all three functions. Coordination will continue through the implementation of the Wraparound Model. The functions of Placement and Special Assistance Funding will continue as key functions of our overall Intersystem Coordination Strategy though we have not yet completed work on identifying what the processes will be and the structure to support them. We will post key developments on these functions on this website.

We would encourage you to make sure to work with your supervisor/manager within your agency and ask if it would be truly beneficial to the child/youth and their family to make the referral, and to be clear on which of the three functions identified above you are trying to access. If after this consideration you still think that it would be beneficial to make the referral, you can proceed through the normal process within your agency with the referral. There will be no cutoff date on referrals, but you need to be clear, especially with families, that the coordination process or how you seek assistance for a placement or special assistance funding will be changing. It is not our intent to throw any curve balls to those of you in the trenches and so we will continue to get clear and up-to-date information out to you as quickly as possible to make sure you are well-informed on the processes and structure for the functions of Coordination, Placement, and Special Assistance Funding.

As we transition from the traditional Cluster model to the development of Wraparound Teams around each child/youth and their family involved in Coordination, there will still continue to be a need to utilize more formal services/supports as part of a whole range of options that would be considered to meet the various needs of a particular child/youth and their family. While there is a greater emphasis on utilizing natural supports in a child/youth and family’s life, this does not negate the importance of having access to and utilizing formal services/supports.